Monday, November 8, 2010

Wrongheaded Decision Point

United Nations
Despite the United States having ratified the Convention against Torture, Bush defends his "decision point" in authorizing waterboarding

The defense of torture by President Bush during an interview about his new book, Decision Points is utterly appalling. This position of his is both immoral and illegal, under International Law, in so far as the United States ratified the international Convention Against Torture. And neither is the position even pragmatic, as it undermines the taboo against torture by other nations, and reduces our own protections against reprisals and victimization by torture.
Immoral, Illegal and, in the end, not very smart or wise, Bush’s policy eroded international law and human rights protections previously afforded to us all, tainted us as citizens and branded our nation as immoral, unjust, impervious to international law, and simply not very wise. Does that not mark decline of a different sort for our country?

"This is not a speech. Two weeks ago I set aside the speech I prepared. This is a cry from the heart, a lamentation for the loss of this country's goodness and therefore its greatness.", Ted Sorenson, from a "A Time to Weep", Commencement speech at the New School University in New York on May 21, 2004
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/31-8


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